Page 43 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
“I’ll run to the store and get the stuff after breakfast then.”
“That would be a kindness, but we can all go, and I’ll buy y’all lunch.” Coop beamed at him like he had just bought the man a new beagle.
That reminded him, he needed to see if the kids wanted one card and a big gift card or a bunch of individual cards and smaller gift cards. And what had Benji done for Coop?
“Anytime. Mina’s next, isn’t she?”
“Yessir. She’s wanting a party and a bouncy castle. A big cake. Balloons.” Coop winked at him. “But first, make with the birthday hollandaise sauce.”
Chapter Ten
“Coop, are you sure this is okay?”
Coop cast his eyes on Benji. “Absolutely. You need privacy. I know that you don’t think you need privacy, but you do. You have got to stop all this nonsense and get back to life, and you got a damn short time to do it. Your ass is going back to work in January. It is November. There are not a whole lot of months between January and November.”
Benji rolled his eyes. “I know that.”
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, boy. I will pick them up and roll them back. Trust me, you can have company at the tiny house. You can do with it as you want. You can cook for yourself. You’re always welcome to come up to the house for supper, but you’ve got to start functioning.” Coop didn’t understand why this was so hard.
“It just feels like a lot.”
All of the sudden, Coop understood what it was that Benji was trying to say. Or at least he thought he did.
He wasn’t particularly good at this.
“Listen, this doesn’t mean you’re not taking care of those kids. This doesn’t mean anything except that it’s time for youto be just you. I am not trying to get custody of these kids. I have the guardianship already, and that’s just so that I can sign for stuff. You and I both know that I’m not trying to take these babies from you.”
Benji nodded. “What about Brooks?”
“Brooks is staying here on the permanent. He’s buying horses for here. Nobody’s going anywhere. Brooks is not looking to take anything away from you. You’ve done good, but what we’re trying to do is offer you a chance to be an adult. To go work and have a good time. Have your own little place.” He got it, he really did—the whole taking care of responsibility part. It came with cowboy protection. But that had somehow gotten tied up into ownership almost of these babies, which was not only creepy, it was stupid.
And he didn’t do well with stupid.
“Didn’t he build this house for you?”
“Yeah, I’m just trying to figure out why.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Because he loves you, you dumb piece of shit. You’re his family.”
Benji’s expression went stubborn. “Well, him and Dad didn’t like each other.”
“Let me tell you a little secret. There’s not one person on earth who knows what two other people felt. You know what you feel. And you might even know what your daddy said or what you overheard, but that was between him and your Uncle Brooks. It wasn’t about you. It didn’t have nothing to do with you. Mind your own damn business.” He felt himself building up a head of steam, but Brooks had been decent to the kid. “Brothers can fight and still love their nieces and nephews. Brothers can fight and still love each other. God knows my brother and my sister and I have fought a thousand times and we’ve made-up a thousand times. And just because y’all come from stubborn stock doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have forgiven eachother. Hell, obviously your Uncle Brooks isn’t mad at him now.”
Benji shrugged. “I guess.”
“No. I know. What was between the two of them wasn’t any of your business. And it doesn’t matter now at all, because your daddy is dead, and you’ve got an uncle here willing to be part of your family. Suck it up and take it.”
“Well, tell me what you really feel, Coop.”
He tilted his head. “How I really feel? I can do that? I think you’ve done a good job. I think your daddy would be proud of you. I think your mama would be proud of you. I also think that it is a fool who does not take honestly offered help when it is given. And you are not a fool. Now, do you want your little house painted blue or red?”
“Not pink.” That was sure.
“That’s what your sisters wanted. Actually, Johnny voted for pink too.”
Benji snorted. “I want to know why the kids get a choice of what my tiny house is going to be painted as.”
“Because when you decide to move out of it and go live with whoever it is that you’re madly in love with, they’re going to use it as a playhouse. So they got a vote. Yours does count for more, though, if that helps.”
